Germany

But after Thomas Bareiß, who works at the German
economy ministry, told those gathered on Oct. 10, 2018, in Berlin the heaters had
been short-listed for incentives in 2019, you could hear them breathe a sigh a
relief. Then, last November, the Bundestag confirmed that it would keep funding
home fuel cells. Now, work can start on cutting through all the red tape that
has been haunting applicants to this day.

Andreas Ballhausen flanked by the old and new generation of BlueGen devices.

Twelve years after the first BlueGen system
came to market, SOLIDpower will launch the next generation of its fuel cell units,
called BG-15, in spring. On Nov. 21, 2018, it celebrated the new product announcement
by taking partners, employees, the press and many other invited guests on a tour
of its manufacturing plant in Heinsberg, Germany.

What do you do when your heating system stops
working? Of course, you call the company that installed it. And what if they
tell you that repairing your 22-year-old gas boiler isn’t worth it anymore? Which
system is affordable yet state of the art? Do you want a condensing boiler or
rather a home fuel cell? Where can you get the information you need? Who can you
talk to? H2-international’s Editor-in-Chief Sven Geitmann went looking for answers
and this is his story of what happened.

A nightmare scenario is making the rounds
in the gas sector: All of Germany comes to rely on electric power alone, abandoning
the pipeline system. It is a future that can easily be dismissed as an unlikely
horror story but one that gas companies are trying to prevent at all costs. It
is why an industry that has so far focused on traditional means of heat
production is slowly warming to power-to-gas and energy systems integration and
why the DVGW gave an update on the market by presenting a new study, including
policy recommendations, last September.

Thanks to NEW 4.0, the German state of Schleswig-Holstein is rapidly turning into a showcase for the energy market transformation in the country. The abbreviation stands for a growing innovation alliance, formed on the threshold of the fourth industrial revolution, which intends to create a smart and interconnected energy system. One of the many NEW 4.0 projects is Wind to Gas Energy’s hydrogen venture in Brunsbüttel.

On the German North Sea coast, interest in hydrogen is reaching new heights. More and more organizations are discovering the technology, while an increasing number of communities are mapping out concrete plans, and the number of politicians pledging their support is becoming greater each day.

At the beginning of October 2018, Fronius,
a power electronics manufacturer based in Pettenbach, Austria, commissioned a
demonstration system of a solar-hydrogen fueling station at its research and
development facility in Thalheim, near Wels. The business expects the system named
SOLH2UB to become not only a part of its 24-hour solar strategy but
also a decentralized component of a future hydrogen economy.

Hydrogen and fuel cells are becoming ever more popular in the maritime industry. After many years spent on research and development, it seems as if both technologies could enter the market soon. Launched in 2009, the e4ships flagship
project had been a way to explore a variety of options for fuel cell use in the
shipping market. Seven years later, the venture and all of its subprojects came
to an end.

Plasma physics plays only a minor role in
research in Germany. There are some niche market applications for it, such as
coating plastic bags or cutting electrically conductive material. But the daily
work of most German engineers and technicians doesn’t involve the fourth state
of matter. Now that Graforce unveiled a new unit called plasmalyzer at a press
conference on Oct. 17, 2018, in Berlin, interest in this field of physics may
be on the rise again. The system, which uses wastewater as a reagent, produces
hydrogen with the help of ionized gas, with the product reportedly being
capable of driving LNG vehicles. So, how does it work?

Since the government passed the Clean
Growth Strategy at the end of 2017, the UK’s hydrogen and fuel cell sector has
been picking up speed. Despite Brexit headaches, politicians, business executives
and researchers see the technologies as a great chance to set up key value
chains across the country and turn it into a leading market for hydrogen-based
heat. The UK’s BEIS department, which is in charge of implementing the
strategy, has likewise been promoting the use of hydrogen to generate heat and
power means of transportation.